The IRS may owe you money from your 2020 tax return, including the 2020 Recovery Rebate Credit, with an average unpaid refund amount of $932. However, the unclaimed refund is set to disappear in less than two months. The IRS is holding over $1 billion in unclaimed money for almost 940,000 taxpayers from 2020, and by law, the agency keeps these unclaimed tax refunds for three years before transferring the money to the US Treasury. Taxpayers have until May 17, 2024, to claim any missing money from their 2020 tax return. If you missed out on all or part of your stimulus check payments in 2020 and didn’t file your 2020 tax return, you have until May 17, 2024, to claim your missing money.
To claim a refund for 2020, taxpayers will need to submit their 2020 tax return through the mail as tax software cannot e-file for prior year returns. The deadline to file for a refund from 2020 is May 17, 2024, for most taxpayers, with different IRS regional offices to mail the return depending on the state or US territory where you live. Taxpayers can find the necessary tax forms for 2020 on the IRS forms page, and if missing documents like W-2s or 1099s from 2019 are required, they can request copies from their employer or bank. Tax refund offsets may occur if the IRS uses the refund to cover past-due federal taxes, state income tax, child support, or other debts.
There is no easy way for taxpayers to discover if they are missing tax refund money from 2020, as the IRS Where’s My Refund tool only reports on filed tax returns. To find out the amount of any missing recovery rebate credit, taxpayers will need the tax years and amounts of the economic impact payments they received to calculate the credit. This information can be found in their IRS online account or the mailed notices the IRS sent with the amounts of the payments. Taxpayers who miss the deadline to claim their tax refund after three years will have the money become the property of the US Treasury, and they will not be able to retrieve it.
The Recovery Rebate Credit allows taxpayers to claim any missed economic impact payments from 2020 or 2021 if they didn’t receive the full amount they were owed. Filing 2020 tax returns on paper is required to claim any missing money, with tax software publishers keeping prior years’ software available for three years. Taxpayers must print, sign, and correctly address their 2020 tax return to the designated IRS regional office by the May 17, 2024 deadline for most filers. The Recovery Rebate Credit can also be calculated using the Form 1040 Recovery Rebate Credit Worksheet to determine the amount owed by the government. If any issues arise with a missing refund or a tax offset, taxpayers can contact the IRS for more information.
If taxpayers believe they were due a refund from 2021 but did not receive one after filing their old tax return, the IRS may have offset the refund to cover tax debts, child support, or other federal debts. Notices from the IRS or the Treasury Offset Program will be sent to inform taxpayers of any refund offsets due to debt payments. Taxpayers who do not believe they owe any back federal taxes can contact the IRS at 800-829-1040, while those with other debt-related offsets can call the Treasury Offset Program at 800-304-3107 for more details. It is important for taxpayers to file any missing tax returns or claim any unclaimed refunds before the deadline to ensure they receive the money they are owed from the IRS.
